In earlier days, the converter box provided by cable TV providers were frequency converters that tuned all the cable channels to one fixed VHF TV channel, such as channel 3 or 4. The customer usually had to pay rent for the converter boxes.
Then came "cable ready" TVs with those frequency converters/tuners built into them and the converter boxes were no longer needed, except for a few scrambled "pay" channels where the converter boxes contained the de-scrambling capability. This saved the consumer quite a bit of money over the long run if he did not want to pay for the premium channels. That was a good thing.
Then came digital TV and the cable TV providers added many more channels to their line ups. I still have only my cable ready TV, but, again, need to rent a set top converter box from the cable TV provider to convert the channels to a fixed channel on my TV set. I still don't pay for premium channels, however.
My question is this: Is there a way for me to do away, again, with the set top converter box by upgrading to a digital TV, just as was possible in the days before by buying a "cable ready" TV? Do the cable TV supplier's channels correspond to the digital channels tuned by the digital TV?
Thank you.